MY 7 yr old, autistic son, Matthew came home from his mother's house today with blisters on his arm and leg. I have tried to call her repeatedly to find out the source of the blisters, but no return call. So, I'm hoping some of the parents here will have seen something similar and can tell me whether it's something i need to be concerned about.

There are four burns on him. Two on his inner forearm, a large grouping of blisters on his inner calf, and a small one just above the large one on the leg. I don't know if these are fire burns, chemical burns or burns at all.

With Matthew being autistic, he is unable to tell me how he got them and his mother either is not aware of them (which is not impossible as she tends to pawn the kids off on grandma or others the limited time she has them) or is aware of what happened and does not want to admit to whatever it is. Either way, the sores cannot be more than three days old as she picked them up Monday morning and dropped them off Thursday afternoon.

If anyone can tell me whether this is something to be concerned about, whether it merits a doctor's visit.

Thanks Hiram. He’s been camping many times and he’s never gotten it before. That doesn’t mean anything, but if he was ultra-sensitive to it, I would expect he would have gotten it as some point. He is autistic and he splits his time between his computer, his television, and the pool (except for the occasional family outing to the lake). If it is poison ivy, then your explanation of a dog might explain, as his mother does have a lab (although they don’t really live in a wooded area). Either way, I appreciate your well reasoned response to my questions. There’s another gentleman who has hijacked this thread that has pushed poison ivy as well. I’ve decided to let a doc decide in the morning.

51
posted on 08/07/2009 1:17:03 AM PDT
by dannyboy72a
(The President of the United States should not be selling me insurance or lightbulbs)

I’m sorry for your son’s blisters. They look uncomfortable, even if he can’t tell you what causes them. I hope it turns out to be something easily treatable.

About 15% of the population does not react to poison ivy, and I seem to be in that category, so I have no idea what poison ivy rash/blisters look like. However, addressing the issue about “one thing after another” with your ex: If you don’t already have one, you need to start a journal chronicling your son’s health whenever you hand him over to her, and then again when you get him back. Make complete notes and put down dates, and also take pics of anything like the blisters. You might want to get a friend to witness and sign it when you are chronicling injuries that he has when he returns to you.

Hopefully, someday you will end up with a totally useless diary of all his little problems, and nothing will ever come of it. BUT if he ever gets some big injury (God forbid) or it simply becomes obvious to you that he is not safe in his mom’s care, you will have some ammunition when you go to court about it. Good luck!!!

Thank you. And thanks to all of you for your time tonight. I will try to remember to post what I find out tomorrow. At least I still have a private health care plan to ensure my son gets the best treatment :).

As an aside. Right now, Insurance companies can turn away children with autism. Before my current job, we had to put Matthew on public health plan because Blue Corss Blue Shield denied him coverage. That’s not right. If they want to fix things, they could start with requiring insurance carriers to cover children with special needs. They will undoubtedly lose money on them, but they will more than make up for it on my 50 years of premiums.

55
posted on 08/07/2009 2:08:58 AM PDT
by dannyboy72a
(The President of the United States should not be selling me insurance or lightbulbs)

One other thought. I’m sorry that this thread has attracted so many sillybuggers and know-it-alls. I hope your boy is OK — your doctor will have a better idea what caused his injuries than any of us here. Cheers, mate!

It does look like poison ivy, especially the small blisters. Go to the store and get some calamine lotion to put on it. And he needs a bath to get rid of the poison ivy oil to keep him from rubbing the oil onto new areas.

If you get it near the eyes, a doc will give you steroids.

We once mentioned to our pediatrician that we were sort of embarrassed about the number of bruises our kids had. And the doc said he would be more concerned if the kids didn’t have some bruises. And they weren’t autistic, they were normal kids.

Poison ivy is very hard to prevent. In fact, if some idiot burns poison ivy a mile down the road, you can catch it from the air.

Has he ever had chemo? I hope not but if he is being treated for cancer it could be a reaction by the chemo attacking mosquito bites etc. My wife would get a mosquito bite and it would blister like that. If not I would say it is a spider bite.

I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that this is a reaction to some kind of noxious plant (poison ivy, etc.). I had several episodes as a kid where it flared up in odd places because I had been exposed to it and those were the places where I had scratched it and allowed it to irritate the skin.

At the time, my doctor had said that there is a common misperception that poison ivy only shows up where the plant actually touches the skin.

61
posted on 08/07/2009 2:48:46 AM PDT
by Alberta's Child
(God is great, beer is good . . . and people are crazy.)

I have had poison ivy and poison oak many time. They often do not appear with the same type of rash depending on where the rash is, how much contact there was and other factors. I also am concerned about the small round areas. They look very much like a classic staph (I just had a case last year after a hospital visit). It could in fact be MRSA and there is no knowing without a culture. If it is ANY kind of staph then jump on it right away. Treatment with an over the counter staph killer that has Tea Tree Oil would be a good start until you can get the youngster to the MD.

Consider that this may be two things not one.

63
posted on 08/07/2009 2:55:11 AM PDT
by mad_as_he$$
(Nemo me impune lacessit The law will be followed, dammit!)

It is poison ivy and it looks like he is already scratching and spreading it. Get a poison ivy scrub to get rid of the irritant and then get a calamine mix that has a topical anesthetic in it to relieve the itching so it can heal.
I understand your suspicions of your ex, the difficulty with a child who cannot express himself but common sense dictates that a very unusual (if you aren’t familiar with poison ivy) thing like these blistered spots you reserve judgment and take the child to a doctor even if it’s expensive and also perhaps heed the remarks of several people on this thread who said poison ivy rather than dismissing them out of hand. You really did make yourself look foolish by jumping to rather drastic assumptions about your ex. Accusations like that are very damaging and should be made not first, but last after other explanations have been exhausted.

There is an absence of reddening (usually a thermal burn will have a corona of less severe burn) which seems to indicate it was not a heat-induced blister. The absence of more sidespread reddening also indicates that it is not likely to be a chemical toxin either, as that, too, has a corona of less affected tissue where the toxin is diluted in the tissue.

As for the sores, do the blisters itch? Is he scratching them? That could account for the scabs. If so, poison ivy seems likely.

If it is poison ivy, and the blisters burst, make sure the area is promptly washed in soap and water or the blisters will likely spread to wherever the juice from inside the blisters made skin contact (just a guess that he is sensitive, from the apparent size of the blisters).

I have had severe poison ivy--and been able to peel sheets of skin from knee to instep from the continuous blister clusters. Thankfully, I seem to have outgrown the sensitivity.

While the blisters look painful, they are not so much painful as aggravating from the persistent and often intense itching. Scratching the blisters and touching another area will spread the problem.

Some precautions for the future, if this is indeed poison ivy as I suspect: have him completely avoid the leaves, sap, roots, and especially smoke from burning leaves, etc. which may contain the oils from the plant. (Learn to spot the plant and teach him to.) I have known kids in my youth who walked through the downwind smoke from burning leaves who came down with incredibly extensive (and on one occasion life-threatening) blistering from poison ivy in the burn pile.

Pets can carry the oils from the plant and transfer them to children who are sensitive as well, giving the kid a nasty case of poison ivy, even though they did not come into direct contact with the plants.

As an adult, I would put the blisters (usually on my hands) under hot water--as hot as I could stand, to get the blisters to open up (which actually felt good--same sensation as scratching/rubbing, without the direct skin damage), then coat them liberally with rubbing alcohol (which hurt like Hell--not for a little boy, and also a fire hazard), but the blisters usually dried up after a couple of treatments.

Some people respond to using calamine lotion, but it never did much for me.

Coating the skin in the immediate vicinity of the blisters with soft soap helped keep the blisters from spreading when they weeped or popped, and a 4X4 or 2X2 gauze pad, taped lightly over the area (or a gauze wrap around an affected limb) absorbed the juice from the blisters, made it difficult to scratch, and helped cut down on the spread.

If you are sensitive, wear vinyl or latex gloves to treat it, and throw them away every time and wash up with soap and water thoroughly.

Ordinary laundering will take care of clothing, bedding, etc, but if you are sensitive to poison ivy, wear gloves when handling soiled clothing, etc. which may have come into contact with the plants or blisters on someone affected by them, or you might catch it from that.

No speculation here, as far as that goes, my mother was very sensitive to poison ivy as well.

I hope this helps, and pray the young man is better soon.

65
posted on 08/07/2009 3:34:40 AM PDT
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)

The plants I came into contact with in my youth must have been greasy with it. My mother could get it from coming into contact with the 'juice' from a broken blister--in the laundry.

Some people just get a rash, but large blisters were common with me. I recall trying to type up a petrology paper in college and not being able to bring my fingers together because of the blisters between them, picked up on a paleontology field trip the weekend before, from the roots of the plant.

67
posted on 08/07/2009 3:49:29 AM PDT
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)

“Why is it our biggest jerks here almost never even post their flag on their homepage?”

“This person asks sincerely for help and half the thread is a big Conservaturd in the punch bowl.”

Sorry to rain on your parade, but you have taken a jump off a cliff advising all sorts of reporting of child abuse.

It's poison ivy.

Before you start filing police reports, why not take the rational step and consult a doctor? People that jump on and say “I've had it, and that's not it”, well, the severity of the reaction is proportional to the amount of urushiol the skin is exposed to, the length of exposure, and the degree of sensitivity of the individual to the toxin.

The rash does not spread by exposure from the blisters or from the fluid in the blisters. Common myth. It sometimes appears that way because different areas of the skin react slower than others. Another myth is that you become less sensitive with subsequent exposure, the opposite is true. Many do not react with the first exposure, or react mildly. I've had it severely enough to require steroid injections and now I'm hypersensitive to exposure.There is a wonderful product “Zanfel” that is a soapy substance that removes the oil from the skin and absolutely stops the itching. It's expensive, but a little goes a long way.The danger of staph or other skin infections being introduced by scratching is a possibility, so a doctor visit would be wise.

If you dont want to be helpful, leave the thread. Its not poison Ivy. Ive had it many time and tell me how a boy can get poison ivy on the inside of his arm and not anywhere else on his arm. High up on his calve, and nowhere else on thast same leg? Maybe you should have a drink and go find another thread to jeer.

You are an ass. People are trying to help you and you are snotty to them. I have had blisters from poison Ivy. And, it doesn't spread until it gets in your bloodstream. It all depends on where the Urushiol oil came in contact with his skin.

74
posted on 08/07/2009 5:57:19 AM PDT
by raybbr
(It's going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)

I appreciate your input. Respectfully, I’d like you to reread what I wrote. I never said she did something nefarious or even implied it. If anything, I implied a lack of responsibility. My entire post, at 2am, was not to bash her, but to get some opinions in the absence of an explanation from here. Poison Ivy wasn’t dismissed out of hand, but the opinions of Born to Conseve was because he came into this thread - which was simply me asking for opinions on something - and decided to make it a personal attack against me. For no reason. I don’t know if he was in a sour mood given the news he’s read or what, but he pushed my button (which may have been his fun for the evening, I don’t know) and I pushed back.

I appreciate everyone’s sage advice. In the absence of her intentionally allowing my son to be harmed, I would never take a mother away from a son. I have a decent relationship with my ex, with the exception of her putting herself before the kids at various times over the last couple of years. For me, my kids come first - and that means their safety and their need to kick the tires, so to speak, and get into a little trouble. But like many of you have stated, when you have a child that cannot communicate their feelings or simply “have you been scratching?”, then you have to investigate everything and you have to KNOW the cause or you wonder if it was something you did or could do again to him.

Since I am not a doctor and since it was late evening when I noticed it, i went through WebMD and google images, didn’t see a match, so I posted here hoping for some info. I’ve had poison ivy and it’s never looked like that. We’re taking him in this afternoon to be sure. I will let everyone know what they diagnose. Thanks for all the well wishes. Off to work I go. Thanks again.

76
posted on 08/07/2009 6:30:58 AM PDT
by dannyboy72a
(The President of the United States should not be selling me insurance or lightbulbs)

We haven’t seen him scratch at all. Which is one of the chief reasons why I don’t think it’s poison ivy. However, Matty doesn’t react the same to certain things. His brain may be feeling the itchiness, but not telling him to scratch. In cases where he doesn’t know what it is, he will simply ask for a “sticker” which is a band-aid and leave it along until bath time.

79
posted on 08/07/2009 6:49:21 AM PDT
by dannyboy72a
(The President of the United States should not be selling me insurance or lightbulbs)

I agree with you Raybbr, People are trying to help him and he is treating them very rudely. My question to Dannyboy is this. You stated that your son came home “Today”. Why are you posting pictures, making comments etc at 1 o’clock in the morning? You should have taken your son to the doctor already. If it is, a) poison ivy, B) a chemical or ciggarette burn, C) bug bites or D) hot candle wax. Why are you making a child that CANNOT communicate to you as you state suffer longer? And for the record, a child does not necessarily have to speak to be able to transmitt symptoms to you. If he itches, cries in pain, has a fever then you have a clue as to what you should do. Instead, your here posting crap about your ex wife. That is telling to me. She may be a bad mother as you say, but how good of a father are you if you have had the chance to take him to the doctor HOURS before your “concern” here on Freerepublic? Forgive me, I just hate ex bashing when a perfect opportunity to find out the truth ( and make sure his son was OK) by taking him to the doctor when he noticed his son condition.

As long as usuriol is present, it will spread by physically moveing it .... i.e. scratching, rubbing up against something ... mechanical xsfer. Uusally by the time ih has blistered the skiun the poison is fully absorbed by the bnody .. the fluuid in the blisters are the body’s way of healing. It will not transmit.

However ... it is that intial contact. Within a day if not washed or treated immediately just normal activities will spread it. You scratch your arm whee you had intitial contact ... but you don’t realize you have it yet. A moment later your nose itches, you rub it .. xsferring more of the poision ... and don’t you kno your ankle itches ... and you do so with that same contaminated hand and all of a sudden your ankle now has a rash forming. You rub your eye ... see the endless cycle. And then ... it is all over the body .. diluted each time and slowly being absorbed.

Want to know a low down drty trick. I am an avid Master Gardener. We have a neighborhood of punks that will destroy planter baskets and flowing pots just out of meanness. Well son of a gon ... wearing rubber glove I just started rubbing P ivy plnts stems all over the lips of the pots. Ceramic will not absorb it. It is not really water soluble, it will evntually rinse of ...

yeah ... after a couple of months I no longer had planters and baskets dumped by vandalous little snots.

Age and treachery will always win over a pis and vinegare meanness. grin

Oh .. by the way ... if you tangle with roots .. you got a quadruple dose.

You are an ass. People are trying to help you and you are snotty to them. I have had blisters from poison Ivy. And, it doesn't spread until it gets in your bloodstream. It all depends on where the Urushiol oil came in contact with his skin.

That's not true. The "them" you speak of refers specifically to "Born to Conserve" and the snottiness you speak of started with him, BtC, unless my snottiness detector is out of whack today. Go back and read his (BtC) posts. Here are some examples:

"ITS POISON IVY!!!! Have you never been outside????" Well i used to play outside practically from sunup to sundown when i was a kid and never contracted poison ivy nor did any of my friends far as i know. Not everyone gets it and not everyone grows up in an area that has a problem with poison ivy.

"By the way, he was probably having lots of fun when he got it, and you seem as though you need a drink or a psychiatrist." Snotty?

"Poor kid. He got some poison ivy, and now his parents are going nuts or going to jail. What a bunch of ignoramuses." Snotty? Certainly a lack of charity, i'd say.

Now all of these examples came before DannyBoy responded "rudely" to him, as you put it.

DO NOT take him back to that place. You should be filing charges with the state immediately.

For the Burns, get an Aloe Cactus from the local Grocery store, or Nursery, call around till you find one who has it. Once home cut off one of the leaves, slice it in half and using a spoon scoop out the jelly like meat of the leaf and put it in a bowl. With a fork or spoon mash the sticky goo up really well. You can do this with a partial leaf too. Then spread the goo on the burns. It will kill the pain almost immediately. If you have them bandaged, take off the existing bandages slather the goo on fresh ones and re apply them. You will need to re-apply this likely every 5 to 6 hours depending on how he is doing. Continue to use this stuff as long as the burns hurt. You can do this for weeks if you need to. This is one of the best burn treatments known to humanity, there is no pharmacy option as good as that plant.

This is something that needs to be reported to the authorities IMMEDIATELY, you should also involve your pediatrician, likely they can help you with the report.

This is pretty serious.

87
posted on 08/07/2009 11:47:51 AM PDT
by Danae
(- Conservative does not equal Republican. Conservative does not compromise.)

One of the pictures look like a bite that was scratched by the child...One of the other pictures look like the start of poison ivy...My oldest son had a case of poison ivy so severe that I couldn’t even believe it was poison ivy until I took him to the doctor. It spreads with scratching..

Sorry to rain on your parade, but you have taken a jump off a cliff advising all sorts of reporting of child abuse.

I have no frigging idea what you are talking about hoss.

Try going back and actually reading the thread first. I said it did not look like the poison ivy my six year old manchild has right now on his arm and that it might be an allergic reaction to something or maybe staph if it turns blue and that the other poster was being a dick...and he was.

Also, I would put pure vitamin E on the sores or get something from your pharmacy that reduces scarring. These applications can make a difference in how the sores heal and what scarring will be left. It would be best if your child was left with as little scarring as possible from whatever the weird sores are.

96
posted on 08/07/2009 6:39:45 PM PDT
by Bellflower
(The end of this age is near but the beginning of the next glorious one is coming!)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.